2 people detained after vehicles, buildings fired at in Raleigh: Police
Police investigate a shooting spree near I-40 in Raleigh, North Carolina, Nov. 7, 2024. Via WTVD
(RALEIGH, N.C.) — Two people have been detained in connection with a spate of shootings that occurred in Raleigh this week, authorities said Thursday.
Since Monday, police have received 12 reports of shots being fired at vehicles and buildings in the vicinity of I-40 and I-440, according to Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson. Among the incidents, eight vehicles were fired into, resulting in one person being injured, she said.
“At this time, we do believe that the 12 incidents are related,” Patterson said at a press briefing Thursday. “I can also confirm that we have identified a person of interest, and this person has been detained. However, we will continue to pursue all leads.”
The investigation led authorities to a residence in Raleigh on Thursday, where they detained the person of interest, police said. A second person who was also in the residence at the time was additionally detained, police said.
Police have urged drivers in the Raleigh area to remain vigilant following reports of vehicles being fired into during the early morning hours on I-40.
In one incident, on Monday, a woman was shot in the leg, suffering a non-life-threatening injury, police said.
Patterson said it is unclear at this time if shots were being fired from a vehicle or on foot.
Police previously said they believe a handgun was used in the shootings.
The shootings remain under investigation. Patterson urged anyone with surveillance or dashcam footage to come forward.
A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible, she said.
(NEW YORK) — A parade of storms is continuing to pound the West Coast, bringing high waves, strong winds, heavy rain, snow and the threat of avalanches.
In the Rocky Mountains, where another 2 to 4 feet of snow is forecast though the weekend, an avalanche watch has been issued from 5 p.m. Friday until 5 p.m. Monday.
More rain is headed to the West Coast on Friday night and Sunday morning. Local rivers will continue to rise and flooding is expected in Washington and Oregon.
High wind alerts have been issued for Northern California, Oregon, Wyoming and Montana, where wind gusts could reach 70 mph.
The West Coast will finally get a break from the severe weather next week.
Meanwhile, in the South, a strong storm brought eight reported tornadoes to Texas and Louisiana on Thursday.
On Friday, more damaging winds, hail and an isolated tornado are possible from New Orleans to Mobile, Alabama, to Pensacola, Florida.
A new storm system is bringing another tornado threat this weekend.
On Saturday, an elevated tornado threat is forecast from Louisiana to Alabama. Cities in the bull’s-eye include Jackson, Mississippi; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and Alexandria, Louisiana.
On Sunday, this storm system will move into the Southeast and could bring severe weather from Georgia to the Carolinas to southern Virginia. Damaging winds and a few tornadoes will be possible.
(NEW YORK) — Daniel Penny has been found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide for the death of Jordan Neely by the jury on Monday.
The jury deliberated for more than 24 hours across five days before reaching the verdict.
The courtroom broke out in a mix of cheers and jeers as soon as the verdict was read.
Jordan Neely’s father cursed in anger shortly after the verdict and was forcibly removed from the courtroom by a court officer. Others in the gallery shouted, and one woman broke down to tears.
“It’s a small world, buddy,” one man shouted.
“No justice in this racist f—— country,” said another.
Penny, walking out of the courtroom, flashed a brief smile before returning to his stone-faced demeanor. His lawyers embraced one another while seated at counsel table.
The jury in the Penny trial continued deliberations Monday over whether he committed criminally negligent homicide when he placed Neely in a chokehold on a subway car last year, after the jury was deadlocked on the more serious charge of manslaughter last week.
At the request of prosecutors on Friday, Judge Maxwell Wiley dismissed the second-degree manslaughter charge – which carried a maximum 15-year sentence – and directed the jury to turn to the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide, which has a four-year maximum sentence. Neither crime has a minimum sentence. Penny pleaded not guilty to both charges.
“What that means is you are now free to consider count two. Whether that makes any difference or not, I have no idea,” Wiley said before sending the jury home for the weekend.
Prosecutors allege that Penny killed Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man who had previously been a Michael Jackson impersonator, when he placed him in a six-minute-long chokehold on a subway car in May 2023, holding Neely for at least 51 seconds after his body went limp. Assistant district attorney Dafna Yoran argued Penny knew his actions could kill Neely but continued to hold him in a chokehold for “way too long” and “didn’t recognize his humanity.”
The city’s medical examiner concluded Penny’s chokehold killed Neely. The defense argued Neely died from a genetic condition and the synthetic marijuana found in his system.
Defense attorney Steven Raiser told jurors that Penny “acted to save” subway passengers from a “violent and desperate” Neely, who was acting erratically and “scared the living daylights out of everybody.” Raiser argued that Neely was fighting back, and Penny continued to hold on because he feared he would break free, though he didn’t intend to kill Neely.
Wiley denied a new motion for a mistrial made Monday morning by Penny’s defense lawyers, who argued that the dismissal of the manslaughter charge would influence the jury’s verdict.
“There is no way to cure the legal error that we believe very strongly happened on Friday, and we are renewing our motion for a mistrial on the remaining count two,” said Thomas Kenniff, who said the dismissal could result in a “coercive verdict.”
Wiley disagreed, promptly denying the motion like he did on Friday when the defense unsuccessfully argued twice for a mistrial.
To prevent the possibility of influencing the jury, Wiley proposed issuing a new instruction to the jury explicitly stating that the court is “not directing you to any particular verdict.”
Wiley also offered to give the jury an instruction to ignore chants from protesters outside the courthouse – including “Justice for Jordan Neely,” “Daniel Penny subway stranger” and “If we don’t get no justice, they don’t get no peace” – which the defense team declined because it might bring more attention to the chants.
For now, the chants have quieted down, and they are no longer audible in court. If they resume, Judge Wiley said he would consider delivering an instruction or moving the jury to another deliberation room.
Last week, the jury spent more than 23 hours across four days deliberating whether Penny, a 26-year-old former Marine and architecture student, committed second degree manslaughter before repeatedly signaling that they could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Wiley ultimately granted prosecutors’ request to dismiss the first count while Penny’s defense attorneys unsuccessfully pushed for a mistrial, arguing that continued deliberations could lead to a “coercive or a compromised verdict” by “elbowing” jurors to convict on the lesser charge.
Manslaughter would have required proving that Penny acted recklessly and grossly deviated from how a reasonable person would behave, while proving criminally negligent homicide requires the jury to be convinced that Penny engaged in “blameworthy conduct” that he did not consider would lead to the risk of death.
Outside court, protesters and counter protesters have assembled, with “say his name” chants slightly audible in the 13th floor courtroom. As Penny entered the courthouse this morning, he was met with competing chants of “murderer” and “not guilty.”
John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The bipartisan House Ethics Committee on Monday released a scathing report concluding its yearslong investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, finding “substantial evidence” that he had sex with a 17-year-old in 2017 in violation of Florida’s statutory rape law, and engaged in a broader pattern of paying women for sex.
The report also detailed evidence of illegal drug use, acceptance of improper gifts, granting special favors to personal associates, and obstruction, after Gaetz refused to comply with subpoenas and withheld evidence from the committee.
A woman testified to the committee that Gaetz had sex with her in 2017, when she was 17 and had just completed her junior year of high school, and Gaetz was in his first year in Congress. Identified only as “Victim A” in the report, the woman told investigators she received $400 in cash from the then-congressman that evening, “which she understood to be payment for sex,” according to the report.
“The Committee received credible testimony from Victim A herself, as well as multiple individuals corroborating the allegation,” the report says. “Victim A said that she did not inform Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did he ask her age.”
While many of the allegations in the committee’s report have been previously reported, this is the first time the woman’s direct testimony about Gaetz having sex with her when she was a minor has been made public, along with corroborating testimony from others.
Investigators noted that while the former Florida congressman has “suggested that the allegations against him have been manufactured” and had called into question Victim A’s credibility, “the Committee found no reason to doubt the credibility of Victim A.”
The report details that between 2017-2020, records obtained by the committee show Gaetz paid nearly $100,000 dollars to 12 different women and to Joel Greenberg, his one-time close friend who in 2021 pleaded guilty to numerous crimes, including sex trafficking Victim A.
While all the women who testified to the committee described their sexual encounters with Gaetz as consensual, according to the report, one woman raised concerns that drug use at the parties and events may have “impair[ed their] ability to really know what was going on or fully consent.” Another woman told the committee, “When I look back on certain moments, I feel violated.”
The report alleges that Gaetz “took advantage of the economic vulnerability of young women to lure them into sexual activity for which they received an average of a few hundred dollars after each encounter.”
“Such behavior is not ‘generosity to ex-girlfriends,’ and it does not reflect creditably upon the House,” the report reads, referencing the former congressman’s previous statement dismissing the allegations as someone “trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward.”
“Based on the above, the Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” the report says.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The Justice Department declined to charge him last year after a yearslong investigation into similar allegations.
President-elect Donald Trump last month tapped Gaetz to serve as attorney general in the incoming administration, and Gaetz resigned his congressional seat shortly after. Gaetz subsequently withdrew his name from consideration for AG, saying his confirmation process was “unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
The Ethics Committee was in the final stages of its probe into Gaetz when Trump tapped him for attorney general. The committee generally drops investigations of members if they leave office, but Gaetz’s resignation prompted a fiery debate on Capitol Hill over whether the panel should release its report to allow the Senate to perform its role of vetting presidential nominations.
Following indications last week that the committee would release its report, Gaetz took to X in a lengthy post, writing in part that when he was single he “often sent funds to women” he dated and that he “never had sexual contact with someone under 18.”
“It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now,” he posted. “I’ve never been charged. I’ve never been sued. Instead, House Ethics will reportedly post a report online that I have no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body.”
In its report, the committee concluded that it did not find substantial evidence that Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, finding that while Gaetz “did cause the transportation of women across state lines for purposes of commercial sex,” investigators did not find evidence “that any of those women were under 18 at the time of travel, nor did the Committee find sufficient evidence to conclude that the commercial sex acts were induced by force, fraud, or coercion.”
According to the report, the committee conducted over two dozen interviews, issued 29 subpoenas, reviewed nearly 14,000 documents, and requested information from multiple government agencies as part of its extensive investigation into the allegations.
The committee received written testimony from Greenberg but, due to credibility concerns, investigators said they would “not rely exclusively on information provided by Mr. Greenberg,” according to the report.
The committee also accused Gaetz of obstructing its investigation by ignoring subpoenas, withholding documents, and declining to answer questions about the allegations.
“Representative Gaetz continuously sought to deflect, deter, or mislead the Committee in order to prevent his actions from being exposed,” the report reads. “His actions undermine not only his claims that he had exculpatory information to provide, but also his claims that he intended to cooperate with the Committee in good faith. It is apparent that Representative Gaetz’s assertions were nothing more than attempts to delay the Committee’s investigation.”
The committee had been investigating allegations that Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, according to sources.
Earlier this year, the committee released a statement that it would continue its probe but would no longer pursue allegations that Gaetz “may have shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe or improper gratuity.”
According to the report, while several committee members did not support its release, a majority of its members voted in favor of its release on Dec. 10. In a statement at the conclusion of the report, House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest reiterated his stance against the release of the report on behalf of the dissenting members while acknowledging that he and other members do not dispute the report’s findings.
“We believe and remain steadfast in the position that the House Committee on Ethics lost jurisdiction to release to the public any substantive work product regarding Mr. Gaetz after his resignation from the House on November 14, 2024,” Guest wrote.
Earlier Monday Gaetz filed a lawsuit against the Ethics Committee in an effort to stop the committee from releasing its report.
“This action challenges the Committee’s unconstitutional and ultra vires attempt to exercise jurisdiction over a private citizen through the threatened release of an investigative report containing potentially defamatory allegations,” the filing from Gaetz said.
Gaetz in the filing asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to block the release of the report or any findings, which he says would cause “damage to his reputation and professional standing” that would be “immediate and severe.”
“The threatened release of information believed to be defamatory by a Congressional committee concerning matters of sexual propriety and other acts of alleged moral turpitude constitutes irreparable harm that cannot be adequately remedied through monetary damages,” the filing stated.
“After Plaintiff’s resignation from Congress, Defendants improperly continued to act on its investigation, and apparently voted to publicly release reports and/or investigative materials related to Plaintiff without proper notice or disclosure to Plaintiff,” the complaint said.
Following the report’s release Monday, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta gave Gaetz until 5 p.m. ET to show why the suit shouldn’t be dismissed with prejudice for lack of jurisdiction, given “this case appears to be moot in light of the House Ethics Committee’s public disclosure of the report.”
In a subsequent filing, attorneys for Gaetz acknowledged that their lawsuit is now “mooted” following the release of the report — a move they said has caused Gaetz “irreversible and irreparable harm.”
The filing said the committee’s decision to release the report was “unprecedented and procedurally defective,” and reiterated their claim that it was released without notifying him.
